Stronger
by gilmorekitten
Summary: Nicola is tired of what the world thinks she should be like. She is tired of accepting everything that comes her way because she is supposed to be some hero. She is tired of pretending to be someone she's not. NOT SLASH. GIRL!HARRY DARK!HARRY Set after fourth year. Rated for safety.


**AN: I had a dream last night that prompted me to want to write this immediately except, it was the middle of the night and I still needed more sleep. Now, however, I am free to try to write it.**

* * *

 _Why does it have to be summer? Why does it have to be so bloody hot? Why do I have to be me? Why can_ _'t Voldemort and I both just die right now? Wouldn't that be easier? It's not like anyone would_ _really_ _miss me. Siri has Remus. Remus doesn't really know me at all. Ron and Hermione have each other. Who would really miss me? Sure maybe for like a week but they'd get over it. Vernon, Petunia and Dudley would be ecstatic._

Nicola Violet Potter had dark thoughts circling in her mind while she worked, again, in her aunt's garden. Really it may as well have been her garden since her aunt never did anything for it nor came outside to even look at it. It was just a show for the neighbors. Part of their normalcy sham.

Nicola sighed and brushed her hair behind her ear with one dirt covered hand. There weren't many that would argue against the fifth year being called beautiful. She had long red hair that hung to the small of her back and was so dark that some had mistaken it for black before. Her eyes were emerald green, although since she had entered the wizarding world they had been described, more than once, to match the color of the killing curse. She couldn't argue that; she even agreed.

Nicole was short at a petite 5'2" and she was very thing both thanks to her relatives and playing quidditch while she was at school. She was fifteen and weighed nothing near what she should considering her age and her height. Not that it ever mattered. No one noticed anyways.

Her closest friends were Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley and even they hadn't noticed anything was ever wrong with her.

 _Oh, Nicola has another bruise? Oh she just must have had a super adventurous summer! Bars on a twelve year old's window? Surely there must have been crime in the neighborhood and her family simply wanted to protect their_ _darling_ _little niece. She's small? Well so was Lily!_

She scoffed as the urge to kill someone popped into her mind. She sighed as she glanced at the garden. Well at least that was done and it was the last chore her _family_ had left her with. They were going to be gone for two weeks and should, thankfully, be leaving any moment now.

Car doors were heard slamming off to her left and she glanced up in time to see her family leaving. She breathed a sigh of relief. The beating that morning had left her limping and she was fairly sure she had a broken rib or two but she was glad to see them gone for what would be a very peaceful two weeks. Likely the most peaceful she would ever find in her existence.

Nicola smiled slightly and went back inside and to her cupboard. She frowned softly. The other reason she was so small. After the window break before second year, her uncle had decided she didn't deserve her own room and stuffed her back in the cupboard. She had to fit into it with her large trunk and Hedwig's cage. Hedwig she let stay in a tree in the backyard. No need for her poor owl to suffer with her.

She bit her lip and walked through the house and out the backdoor. "Hedwig!" She called quietly.

The brilliant snowy white owl flew from the tree to her arm with a soft and patient hoot.

"We're leaving girl. At least for the summer. I can't take it anymore and I miss my world." Her world had become the wizarding one again when she had turned eleven and found there was something other than what her relatives had. No wonder she had always felt out of place.

Hedwig hopped to her shoulder and she went back to grab her trunk and the cage before going outside. She didn't bother to lock the door. _Maybe they'll get robbed_ , she thought wistfully.

She lifted her wand and heard the tell tale crack before the nightbus pulled in front of her. Before Stan got his mouth fully open she shoved the required amount into his hand with a little extra.

"Spare me, Stan. Please. Bernie, The Leaky Cauldron. Thanks."

She had used the bus several times that summer and by now they were used to her abruptness. Well, really, she was supposed to have been in Slytherin. What did anyone expect?

Nicola settled into a chair as the bus took off at it's usual breakneck speed. Hedwig sat on her shoulder still, seemingly unbothered by the insanity going on around them and she held her trunk and the cage firmly. She had grown too used to speed and insanity of the ride.

"Here we are, Nic. Leaky Cauldron."

"Thanks Stan. I plan on stayin' this time so I likely won't see you til next summer. Take care. Both you and Bern."

With Voldemort have risen, she was taking care to warn everyone to stay safe that she cared about. Despite the fact that the papers were doing their best to discredit her, Stan and Bernie had both believed her the first time she told them.

"Will do, Nic. You take care of yourself."

By this time he had lifted her trunk off the bus for her and both he and Bernie gave her a jaunty little wave. She smiled back and stepped off the bus and then they were gone.

Nicola sighed softly and dragged her trunk into the pub with her. She made her way through the crowd with ease considering how she was normally greeted. "Tom I need a room." She said quietly

Tom smiled at her in his usual friendly manner and dug under the counter before handing her a key. She nodded and took her trunk and the cage up after casting a levitation on them. Now that she was in the alley, she could use magic and nothing would happen. She would settle the room bill with Tom at the end of her stay. They both preferred that since she didn't know for sure how long she would stay. She never did.

She entered the room he had given her the key to and was quick to take Hedwig's perch from her trunk and set it up for her feathered friend. "I'm going into the alley, Hedwig. I'll be back in a while. Need to visit the bank and I might as well get my robes now. Might do a few other things. I'm not sure yet but I shouldn't be long."

Hedwig gave a soft hoot and flew to the perch. Nicola smiled slightly and grabbed her gringotts key before going back downstairs and entering the alley through the back. She was quick in her path down the cobblestones. She had no idea who could be hanging around and wasn't really in the mood to deal with anyone.

Possibly the only ones she would have been willing to deal with right then were the Weasley twins or Cedric Diggory. Cedric would begin his seventh year this year with the twins.

* * *

Cedric had been in that awful tournament with her last year and had been portkeyed to the Graveyard with her. She remembered that vividly even if she had refused to speak to anyone about it.

Stupid Wormtail had come out and cast the killing curse almost immediately at Cedric. It was only that split second before he cast it that allowed her to slam her elbow into the older teen's stomach, sending him to the ground in pain, that had saved his life.

Wormtail hadn't noticed as he put whatever he was carrying down. She was quick to cast body bind, silencing and invisibility spells on Cedric before leaving him in the cover of a gravestone. She had walked forward, fighting her own inward panic and had been determined to kill Wormtail that time.

They had knocked her out and tied her to a much larger headstone than the one she had hid Cedric behind. They had used her in a ritual that, before her eyes, had brought back the Dark Lord. The only thing Nicola had been able to think about was that Cedric was forced to watch everything happening.

After he had called his inner circle to him, and listened to himself go on and on about things no one cared about, he had released her and forced her to duel him. She had tried her best to keep all the spells well away from Cedric.

During the fight, she had cast a few at Pettigrew before he turned into a rat. In her anger she slammed a stunning charm into the small rat hard enough that it was quite likely she had killed him. She summoned the rat to her and shoved him in her pocket. She would get Sirius free one way or another.

He had cast the killing curse at her and she had met it with the only spell that sprang to her mind. Expelliarmus. The disarming charm.

Despite the fact that the curse should have obliterated her charm and slammed into her to kill her, the two locked together. She remembered having read about what was happening almost immediately.

After Ollivander had mentioned the brother wand concept when she had purchased her wand, she had been quite interested in the concept and researched it as much as possible. Because of that she could recognize what happened when their spells met each other in the middle and a shield dome formed around them. Especially as her mother and father, and two people she had never met, came out of the light.

Priori Incantatem.

The ghosts had attacked Voldemort and she used the split seconds it allowed her and ran to Cedric, practically throwing herself across him in her panic. She brought the spells down off him as fast as possible and grabbed onto his wrist in a death grip and summoned the cup and to them. Then they were gone. Back to the castle and people who wanted to know, more than anything, what had happened. And why Cedric had wrapped his arms around the fourth year that held his wrist in a death grip and was shaking like a leaf.

Cedric hadn't answered them. He had just quietly held onto her, giving her the comfort she had greatly needed right then. When Remus came over and started asking questions, she had tried to take the rat out of her pocket, but her hand was shaking too much.

It was Cedric who very carefully and lightly reached into her pocket and pulled the traitor loose, handing it to the man. He explained that it was an animagus and she wanted him to have it. For reasons that were currently unknown to Cedric.

Nicola hadn't bothered moving or explaining. The adrenaline was wearing off much faster now and she slumped against him. When he saw the shaking had finally stopped, he had stood up and then lifted her into his arms, carrying her to the castle and the hospital wing.

* * *

Now, she hadn't heard from her so-called friends all summer. Cedric had visited her twice and she had visited him once. They had become much closer than before. She had explained the rat to him a short time later and understanding had finally dawned in his eyes.

Nicola smiled at the memory as she finally reached the bank and made her way up the steps. She bowed to the two goblins that guarded the entrance and they bowed back. She fixed her attention on the closer of the two.

"I need to speak to whoever manages the Potter Account."

Now that she had turned fifteen, from the books she had read, she knew she could take up the head of her family as the last in the line. Technically she could also do a lot of other stuff after she did that. Like magic. She could marry too, not that she had any plans on doing something like that just yet. Or even any time in the future. She couldn't see herself as someone's wife when she had never even dated.

The goblin nodded to her and led her down a long hallway. She followed silently. He led her to a door and knocked before entering. A second later he was showing her in. She nodded a polite thanks before entering and crossing the room.

"Nicola Potter. May your gold always flow and enemies drop at your feet bloodied by your sword."

She saw the shock on the goblin's face immediately and smirked. _That's right. I've done my research quite well._

"I am Ragnock, Miss Potter. May your gold flow free and your enemies tremble in fear of your name."

She smiled politely and sat in one of the chairs before his desk. "Thank you. I know I'm set to inherit the Potter Estate and can take up the head of the family now that I have turned fifteen. I would also like an inheritance test."

Ragnock nodded and was already pulling out a bowl for her test. He offered her a dagger and she wasted no time in slicing her hand open and holding it so her blood went into the bowl.

It only took two minutes before he lay a parchment into the bowl and it soaked up the blood. He lifted it back out and handed it to her once the blood was completely soaked up.

 **Name: Nicola Violet Potter**

 **Parents: James Charlus Potter (deceased) and Lillian Marie Evans (deceased)**

 **Godfather: Sirius Black (blood adoption)**

 **Inheritances:**

 **Potter**

 **Black (blood adoption)**

 **Slytherin (conquest)**

 **Gryffindor**

 **Ravenclaw**

 **Hufflepuff**

 **Le Fey**

 **Blocks:**

 **Mind Magics (100%)**

 **Parseltongue (50%)**

 **Magical Power (75%)**

 **Multi-animagus (100%)**

 **Dark magic (100%)**

Nicola sat there gaping for a moment. "Can you remove these blocks?" She asked, handing him the parchment.

Ragnock read through it quickly, his eyes steadily growing wider and wider. At the end he just nodded slowly.

* * *

She was back in her room at the cauldron four hours later. The blocks had been removed and the goblins had even gotten the horcrux, she was later told what that was, out of her scar, causing said scar to start healing. Apparently now that the thing wasn't in there it would heal-just a bit slowly.

Nicola had decided she needed a break and lunch before doing the shopping she had planned on. The goblins had set her up quite nicely with a blood keyed bag for taking money out and a gringotts card for the muggle world.

She grinned at Hedwig as she held out a letter for her owl. "Feel like visiting Ced, girl?"

Hedwig hooted, took the letter in her beak and flew out the window. Nicola knew it wouldn't take long. It only took two hours from Surrey for her to go and return and now she was a lot closer to where he lived. She smiled and ordered lunch so she could eat while she waited for a return letter.

* * *

Hedwig flew back into the open window and deposited a letter nearly in Nicola's lap. Nicola smiled and ripped it open.

 **Nicola Violet Potter!**

 _Uh oh. There's no "Dearest" or "Nic." I've upset him….somehow._

 **How could you leave your horrible relatives and not come here first thing!**

 _Well…yeah that would upset him. Ooops._

 **You have until dinnertime to sort out whatever you're doing before I come and drag you back through the floo myself.**

 **On a lighter note, mum and dad are happy to have you for the rest of the summer if you like. Personally I think they're at least partially in the mood to stick it to Dumb-as-a-door that you chose us over the stupid bird watching club.**

 **On a side note, Sirius and Remus are also totally allowed to visit you here. Luna and Neville are here. Luna came yesterday, going on in her usual cryptic manner…you know I have no idea what she's saying half the time. Anyways, she made Neville come and told us three to pack. Something about a manor and better wards. She said you would know what she's talking about. In any event, Neville's grandmother pulled his parents from St. Mungo's and they and Luna's dad are holed up in "someplace safe". Whatever that means.**

 **Therefore, we are packed and ready to go whenever you get that lazy hot bum of yours here. Hurry it up cause I was serious about the dragging you through the floo bit. And you know I will do it if I have to.**

 **Stay safe.**

 **Love,**

 **Ced.**

 _Awwwwww._

"Hedwig, fly back to Ced and stay there. Hang on." She shrunk Hedwig's cage and her trunk and stuffed both in an envelope, addressing it to Ced. "Take this with you please."

Hedwig hooted, took the envelope once more in her beak and then was gone. Nicola headed downstairs, settled her bill with Tom, applied a few glamour charms and was back in the alley in record time.

* * *

Cedric had his arms wrapped around her before she even fully left the fireplace. He was quite effectively cutting off her air.

"C-Ced. Air!"

He chuckled and put her down lightly on her feet but still held her. "I was so worried!"

"You literally only knew I wasn't where I was supposed to be for a few hours."

He hugged me tighter. "I was worried before that."

I rolled my eyes but finally relaxed into his embrace.

* * *

 **AN: I don't usually write with Cedric involved. This will be a first for me so I admit to finding myself curious as to how it will go. However, I have high hopes considering this chapter was over 3000 words. Yay me!**

 **Kitten xo**


End file.
